EPD or type III environmental declaration

An environmental declaration containing quantified environmental data using pre-specified indicators and, if necessary, additional environmental information.

The abbreviation EPD comes from the English name Environmental Product Declaration. EPD must comply with the conditions specified in the applicable standards and requirements.

You can read more here, how the EPD preparation works.

Here you can find the listEstonian producers who have already published EPD.

Life cycle

Sequential and interrelated steps from the procurement of raw materials or the extraction of natural resources to the final disposal of the product.

Life cycle assessment LCA (life-cycle assessment) 

Aggregation and assessment of inputs, outputs and potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle.

The results of the life cycle analysis are applied to the EPD.

Program operator

An organization or institution that conducts an EPD program and publishes EPDs. The program operator may be a company or group of companies, an industry sector or professional association, a government body or agency or an independent research institution or any other organization.

Declaring unit

The quantity of product used as the EPD reference unit, i.e. for which calculations are made and results are displayed. It can be, for example, kg, m, m2, m3 or any other unit. For some products, the unit is determined by standards or other requirements (e.g. m2 for windows and doors), for other products the hands are more free.

Information module

The EPD reflects the effects of the product across modules. There are 17 modules in total and they are divided into the production phase (A1-A3), the construction phase (A4-A5), the use phase (B1-B7), the final treatment phase (C1-C4) and finally the phase of the effects leaving the system (D). It is not always necessary to declare all modules. The need depends on both the product and other conditions.

Prover e verifier

The role of the verifier is to verify that the life cycle analysis has been carried out in accordance with the requirements and that the documents have been properly formatted.

EPD verification is a step required by the standards. Without it, it is not a proper EPD.

Global Warming Potential GWP

One of the main indicators to look for in the results.

In fact, the indicator consists of three indicators and the fourth is their sum. These are:

GWP-fossil e On the GWP fossil -reflects the global warming potential associated with fossil fuels or fossil carbon-containing materials

GWP-Biogenic e GWP-biogenic- reflects carbon dioxide sequestration and emission from biomass sources

GWP-luluc- reflects emissions from land use and land use changes (e.g. logging and earthworks)

GWP-complete eGWP-total - sum of three subcategories
 
 

EN 15804 (Sustainability of buildings. Environmental declarations. General rules for the product category of construction products)

Standard of general rules for the preparation of EPD of construction products.

To date, several versions of the standard have appeared. From the summer of 2022, the newest, i.e. 2019, version must be followed (EN 15804:2012+A2:2019).

Different versions of the standard are not interchangeable, because the calculation principles of some indicators have been changed to a large extent.

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